


Solitary

by ibonekoen



Category: Sin City - All Media Types, The Faculty (1998)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-12
Updated: 2017-04-12
Packaged: 2018-10-18 01:20:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10606350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ibonekoen/pseuds/ibonekoen
Summary: It’s a cold, cruel business, assassination





	

**Author's Note:**

> This story picks up where the short "The Customer is Always Right" leaves off. 
> 
> I wrote this many, many years when Sin City was first released, and completely forgot that I even wrote it until recently, ha.

I hold her until she’s gone and then release her, gently laying her on the cold stone floor of the balcony. I stand up, straighten my jacket. The material is dark enough to hide any bloodstains, although I doubt they exist. I’m clean and efficient that way.

I return my gun to the inside pocket of my jacket and close my eyes briefly, letting the light rain wash over me. Then I open my eyes and head back toward the party. It’ll be some time before anyone finds her body and I’ll be long gone.

I open the door to the party and step back into the room. Out of habit, my eyes scan the crowd, attempting to discern if anyone’s noticed my arrival. Near an alcove, standing next to a potted tree, a young watches me with interest. The camera hanging from around his neck reminds me of Casey. I feel a quick stab of pain in my heart. I let it bleed for a moment, then seal the wound, getting on with my business of leaving the party. No sense dwelling in the past. It’s been seven years since I last saw Casey — eighty-four months, two thousand five hundred sixty nine days since I left Herrington and my old life behind. Do I miss him? Yes. Can I go back? No.

I’m halfway across the room before I realize I’m being followed and I mentally kick myself for getting lost in my thoughts. I turn and inwardly recoil in shock as I see Casey standing behind me, in the flesh, dressed in a tuxedo.

He’s grown, matured into a handsome man. His hair is neatly styled, freshly combed and washed and he’s wearing some sort of pleasant-smelling aftershave. The urge to kiss him is strong but I suppress it. I can’t afford to get reattached to him.

“Zeke.” he whispers, looking shocked.

I hear the surprise in his voice and I carefully school my face so it’s expressionless. I can’t be seen here with him, I can’t afford to let him know that I know him. I narrow my eyes. “I’m sorry, do I know you?”

He’s visibly stunned, his blue eyes blinking rapidly. He gives a soft snort, then says “It’s me, Zeke. C’mon, don’t tell me you don’t recognize me.”

God, if only I could tell him yes, I do recognize him. I’d love nothing more than to take him back to my apartment and rid him of that tuxedo, muss up his carefully styled hair and ruddy up his complexion, but I can’t. It’s too dangerous for me and much, much too dangerous for him.

He says something else but I shake my head, not even hearing his words. “I’m not who you think I am.” I tell him, which is true. I’m not the same Zeke Tyler he knew.

I leave him standing there with a shocked expression on his face and walk out of the room. The click of the door closing behind me sounds so damn final and, for a moment, I hesitate. Part of me wants to go back to him and I wrestle with the desire. 

Eventually my head wins out over my heart and I continue down the hall to the elevator, depressing the down button. The elevator arrives and I step into the car, depressing the button for the lobby. As the doors begin to slide closed, I see Casey exit the party. Our eyes meet and I briefly see him take a step toward the elevator before the doors close completely.

I sigh, leaning against the wall. I close my eyes and loosen my necktie. Seeing Casey tonight was the last thing I expected. I’m not joking when I say that I’m not the same Zeke who left Herrington seven years ago.

We were heroes. Well, Casey was the _real_ hero, being the one who actually killed the alien queen. Almost everything returned to normal. Mr. Furlong’s eye and fingers were pretty much irreparable and Miss Burke was somehow miraculously healed, something I still can’t explain, but Miss Drake �— after the alien was killed, Miss Drake was still dead, killed by a gunshot wound to her forehead.

The police chief in Herrington had always had it in for me, ever since the first time I managed to talk my way out of an arrest in a drug bust. Everything concerning the alien attack was swept under the rug — everything except Miss Drake’s murder. I was a wanted criminal who became a fugitive when he refused to go to jail. Yes, I had shot Miss Drake, but no, I didn’t regret it. She was an alien. I made my choice.

Casey had wanted to go with me, had even packed his things and written a note to his parents. I left in the middle of the night while he was asleep, leaving him a note that tried to explain that he had potential that didn’t need to be wasted running from the law with me.

I roamed from city to city, peddling out my scat, taking odd jobs here and there. I never remained in one place for too long and tried to keep a low profile. Two years ago, I came to Basin City. It’s a place unlike anything I’ve ever seen, where the odious underbelly basically rules the city.

I needed a job and met a woman in a bar who was looking for someone to off her husband. She was willing to pay a handsome sum. I was broke and figured it had been so easy to shoot Miss Drake, a woman who’d been my teacher throughout the years. How hard could it be to kill a stranger?

It had turned out to be surprisingly simple. The woman had been so pleased with the clean, efficient and, most importantly, stealthy way I’d carried out the murder, she doubled my fee and recommended me to her friends. Long story short, I rather quickly became one of Basin City’s top assassins in just six months.

It’s a cold, cruel business, assassination, but I’ve made enough money that I’m quite well off financially. Every once in a while a job comes along that cuts me like a knife, like the young woman tonight, but for the most part, I’ve learned to close myself off, to harden my heart and above all else, not to get attached to anyone.

I have enemies, fellow assassins who’d give anything to be where I am, to be the top dog. I’ve eliminated a good number of them, but there’s always more and they’re always looking for a weakness. I’ve been safe for two years because I have no visible weakness. I play my cards close to the vest and don’t let anyone get under my skin. That’s why I can’t let Casey know I recognize him. If that knowledge ever got out, he’d become a target, and that’s what I fear most. Losing Casey, even if I’m not with him physically, would destroy me, because I love him. I’ve always loved him.

I left Herrington to protect him. I walked away tonight to protect him. I’ll do anything it takes to protect him.

Do I wish I could go back and tell him how much I love him? Absolutely. But you sleep in the bed you’ve made and I’ve wrought this lonely existence for myself. I’m in too deep to just walk away now. I thought I’d accepted that, but seeing Casey tonight has shaken me, caused a resurgence of my inner desires.

I don’t know what Casey’s doing in Basin City, but it doesn’t matter. I’m very good at not being seen unless I want to be, and Basin City’s large enough that I can avoid him until I get these damn feelings bottled up again.

The elevator comes to a stop and I compose myself as the doors slide open. I step out of the elevator and run into Casey, who’s exiting the stairwell. Recognition flashes across my face and I whisper the first syllable of his name before I can catch myself. His eyes light up and he propels himself forward, his arms sliding around my waist.

“I knew it was you!” he says excitedly. “I knew I wasn’t mistaken!” He tilts his face up to me expectantly.

My arms itch to wrap around his shoulders, my lips ache to crush his in a rough kiss but I restrain myself, knowing that the walls have eyes and ears. “Casey, we can’t.” I murmur, my lips barely moving. I know he hears me in the way his shoulders tense and he pulls away a little.

“Why?” he says, sounding hurt.

“It isn’t safe.” I say. “You have to go before we’re seen together, before it’s too late.” A part of me knows it may already be too late and my worst fears are confirmed as I hear a muffled pop. My hands come up to take hold of Casey’s upper arms as he gasps, his body jerking toward me slightly. His eyes lift to stare at me in confusion, then he slumps against me. I sink to my knees, my arms finally wrapping around him and hugging him close.

“No, Casey.” I whisper, pressing my lips against the top of his head. One hand gently touches the entry wound in the center of his back, between his shoulder blades. I don’t even have to look down to know that the bullet passed through him and went into me. I never saw it coming, I have no idea who fired the shot or even from where it came. All at once I realize that at least this means Casey and I will be together, that nothing can keep us apart now. As the light begins to dim at the edges of my eyes, I thank the faceless assailant for finding a way to put an end to my loneliness.


End file.
